January Goals

If you saw yesterday's post, you'll know I dropped the ball on a LOT of goals.  I'm sincerely going to try to make more of an effort on my monthly ones, maybe even modify them a bit, since several of the Home Repair ones are subject to the spouse's whims.

 -Lose 5 lbs Bleh....scale is going in the OPPOSITE direction; gained a few pounds.  245.

-Buy BP machine Was hoping I'd get one for Christmas; didn't happen.

-Finish Heart Song Made it to Ch 9, so getting closer!

-Do well at GSH Vendor Fair Sold 7:)  5 Wed, 2 Thurs

-Do well at KCPL Author Fair Sold 5:)

-Buy Beautiful Noise tix?? As of this post, Mom is still insisting she does NOT want to go, so have held off.  Will keep working on her....I have until March.

-Have fun at TSO Concert Check!  OMG...SO GOOD!  GREAT time with Erica and Sara!

-Have enjoyable Christmas Check:)  Had X-mas on 24th with kids, then quiet day on 25th.

-Make another payment to Dreaming in Michigan Not in budget just yet; I've been concentrating on paying down my credit card.

-Start chipping away at med bills Not yet.....

-Fix MBA Almost done!  Just have to replace trim, paint vanity, and figure out where to put everything back, lol!

-Cut carpet out of S's room Not yet...

-Upload digital copies to Patreon Not yet....

-Convert 2 VHS to DVD ($44)  Not yet...

-Read more in evenings YES!  Managed to read 7 books!

Books Read:  7

            Print:  7

        E-book:  0

             DNF:  2

2025 Events:

Feb 15-16th:  Saluki Con, Carbondale, Il ($80 Pd 12/2)

March 22nd:  SI Con, Benton, Il

March 29th:  Big River Comic Con, Hannibal, MO

April 3-4th:  GSH Vendor Fair

July 20-22nd:  Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky (Pd 9/12)

Aug:  Watermelon Fest

Aug:  CCC

Aug:  Geek Con, Evansville Museum, Evansville, In

Sept 19-20th:  Cil-Con, Effingham, Il ($60 Pd 12/29)

Sept 27th:  Book Nook Book Fair, Peoria, Il ($75 Pd 12/27)

Nov 12-16th:  ICGAHS ($700-making payments)

2026 Events:

April 11th:  Dreaming Dirty In Michigan (Pd $60; still owe $120)

January Goals:

-Lose 5 lbs (beginning 245)

-Send Christmas Cards

-Buy new soap dish, toothbrush holder, and toilet roll holder for MBa

-Add words to Heart Song

-Send Butterfly Effect to editor and pay editor

-Add words to new fairy story

-De-decorate house

-Buy BP machine

-Pay for SI Con

-Pay down CC and start pecking away at med bills

-Read 6 books

-Finish current e-book

(baby steps, right???)

January Reading Schedule:

The Husband List-Janet Evanovich

Delusion In Death-JD Robb

New York To Dallas-JD Robb

Special Circumstances-Sheldon Siegel

Split Second-Catherine Coulter

Romancing Miss Bronte-Juliet Gael

Live Wire-Lora Leigh

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn-Betty Smith

Shores-Tiare H Johnston

Older But Wilder-Elfie Leland Wilder

Killers of the Flower Moon-David Graham

Burr-Gore Vidal

Sex and Vanity-Kevin Kwan

The Neopolitan Sisters-Margo Candela

I Am Sheffrou-Cami Michaels

Letters To Matthew-Amy Leigh McCorkle

Get Jiro-Anthony Bourdain

All Hail The Queen of the Freaks-T Harriman

The Vermin Sleep-James M Watjen

Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes- Alexa Martin

Ms Demeanor-Elinor Lipton

Before We Were Wicked-Eric Jerome Dickey

Spare-Prince Harry

Down the Rabbit Hole of Narcissism-Natalie Mosely Klenotic

Loving Out Loud-Michael DeCamp

When My Heart Speaks-Steven Petty

Women of the Bible Speak-Shannon Bream

Yesterday's News-Katie Cawood

Wreck The Halls-Tessa Bailey

Someone Else's Shoes-Jojo Moyes

Same Time Next Summer-Annabel Monaghan

The Choice-Anne Greene (misplaced??)

Louise Penney book

A Quiet Strength-Janette Oke

Valley of the Shaman-Arlen Andrews

Joyful Poems For Children-James Whitcomb Riley

I Heard God Laugh-Matthew Kelly

Life Is Messy-Matthew Kelly

Franklin and Eleanor

-46

E-book:

Royal-Emily Silver

Closer Home-Kerry Anne King

Pine Grove Sampler-Jean Joachim

Meet Me In Fantasyland-Mary Martinez

Secret Identity-Ava Cuvey, et al

The Scottish Play-Phoebe Alexander

Fisher Of Men-Phoebe Alexander

Switched-Cassie Mills

His Brother's Baby-Blanche Merriott

Hunted-Jill Kaelin

Isn't She Lovely-Lauren Layne

Logan's Lessons-Tonya Ramagos

Enemies On Tap-Avery Flynn

Fooling Around With Cinderella-

TBB (on wish list-was tired of not finding them!)

The Stanhope Challenge-Cerise Deland (2014-$5)

Dark Side of Disney-Leonard Kinsey 

Romulus-Marilyn Campbell ($5)

Gaslight Chronicles-Cindy Spencer Pape ($8)

So Far Away-Dakota Madison, et al

Defending Devon-Shannon West

Love Realized-Melanie Codina

Love Resisted-Melanie Codina

Assumptions-Melanie Codina

One The Run-Jade C. Jamison

Decker-AD Ellis

Sawyer-AD Ellis

Twins-RG Miller

Saving Sarah-Nan Reinhart

Monster Among The Rose-Linda Kage

A Life Before-Julien Ayotta

Flower of Heaven-Julien Ayotta

Dangerous Bloodlines-Julien Ayotta

Dare To Love-Sandy Sullivan

If I Fall-Lydia Michaels ($5)

If You Want Me-Tara Mills

Tomorrow-Samantha Kane

Backdoor Billionaire's Bride-Roz Lee (2019-$5)

Happy New Year! Let's Make (and keep!) Some Goals!

First of all, let's take a look back at 2024's goals and see how I did:

 -Publish Choosing Your Best Life Changed the title to Defending Destiny and it was published in April:)  

-Pull ALL my books (except Kindle ones) and go wide with D2D Nope

-Make my e-books available on Patreon Nope

-Put a shelf above my bed Still waiting....

-Put a shelf in the MBA Still waiting, though I now have a new floor, toilet, and the vanity's been raised 3 inches!

-Evict items from Brown House Nope

-Evict items from basement Nope....seriously?  I had this as a GOAL?

-Rip out carpets in Daughter's room Getting closer, but no...

-Empty Mom's storage unit No...have to either evict items from Brown house or get Daughter's room squared away first.

-Work enough hours to pay for NYC trip YES!!!  Plus did a lot of fundraising and my sister helped out:)

-ENJOY NYC TRIP DEFINITELY!  And am planning to return in 2026:)

-Get my voice back 1/11:  Sang karaoke successfully!!!

-Finish any of the following: 

    -Paranormal Preacher Added maybe 100 words

    -Singer Story No

    -Aiden Kross antho  Not yet

    -Heart Song Am up to Ch 9!

   -Short story for Antho Yes!  Midsummer's Festival in Central Park:)

   -Short story for BKM antho Think I finished and sent it???  Need to check on this

-Sell 200 books Hand-sold 146.  Cut back on events this year.

-Promote Patreon page and get more sponsors No....think I picked up a couple of freebees, though...

-Sign up for Venmo and Cash App, for cashless/non-CC readers Venmo, yes. CashApp, no.

-Be a vendor at the following events:  Check!

    -First Fridays

    -March:  GSH Vendor Fair

    -April:   Eclipse event and SI Con Was knocked sideways by the amount of support from Washington during the Eclipse, selling 18 in 2 days!!!

    -May:  SI Con moved to April

    -June:  Superman

    -July:  Imaginarium

    -Aug:  IABE, Geek Con

    -Sept:  Cil-Con Cancelled this year

    Nov:  Christmas Show, GSH

-Carve out more reading time Check!  Look at numbers below

-December, put out the Nativity and Morty Depression set in; had to force myself to even decorate the damn tree.

How Was My Health In 2024?  Started off rough, with needing ortho visit, X-rays, and MRI on my left knee, but nothing was torn or damaged by the falls in November or December.  Learned in April the eye doctor DOES IN FACT run my vision through medical insurance, despite my due diligence checking BEFORE I decided not to renew it (and putting $40 back in my paycheck, something I DID enjoy!), so bleh....had to reinstate the crappy insurance in October.

Youngest Son had quit his job at Christmas last year, and even though he claimed to be applying 'everywhere', he did get hired in September at an aluminum recycling plant, which he enjoyed......for a week, due to being razzed by some long-time employees, and he threw a tantrum and quit.  Didn't get hired anywhere else until October, and sprained his ankle 6 weeks later, ON THE JOB, so workman's comp covered him until he healed right before Christmas.  Kid's already still talking about finding something else. He's been told no quitting/getting fired until he has something CONCRETE lined up, none of this,"Well, they said they'd get back to me...."

I know,,,,kids. Think they know everything.

Books Read:  84

            Print:  57

         E-book:  27

              DNF:  5

So....Here Are My Goals For 2025:

-Lose 5 lbs per month 

-Publish Mandela/Butterfly Effect

-Pull ALL my books (except Kindle ones) and go wide with D2D

-Make my e-books available on Patreon

-Put a shelf above my bed

-Put a shelf in the MBA

-Evict items from Brown House

-Evict items from basement

-Rip out carpets in Daughter's room

-Empty Mom's storage unit

-Save $3-4K for 2026 NYC trip

-Finish any of the following: 

    -Paranormal Preacher

    -Singer Story

    -Aiden Kross antho

    -Heart Song

   -Short story for Antho

   -Check on story progress for BKM antho

-Sell 200 books

-Promote Patreon page and get more sponsers

-Be a vendor at the following events:

    -First Fridays/Creative Market

    -Feb:  Saluki Con

    -March:  SI Con, Big River Comic Con

    -April:  GSH Vendor Fair, Kokomo Con, E'ville Craft Fair

    -June:  Superman, Farmer's Market, Pride

    -July: Imaginarium

    -Aug:  Watermelon Fest , CCC, Geek Con

    -Sept:  Cil-Con, Peoria Event

    Nov:  Christmas Show, GSH, Kringle Market

-Carve out more reading time

-December, put out the Nativity and Morty

Yeah, they look familiar....for a reason!  Just look at the top of this post.  I need to stay on top of this.

I'll post my January Goals tomorrow.  I've got some reading to do.

                         Happy New Year!!!!

Words to Live By 12-20-24

 A few weeks ago I happened to be in the company of two colleagues who do not share my political views, and that's okay.  But what bugged me the most was the FEAR they exhibited, and "we will be planning to see how we can best survive this setback."

I soooooo wanted to chime in and say I'd been praying for 4 years for her side to 'wake up' and see the damage they've done to our country, and that my FAITH is what was getting me through every day.  After several minutes of biting my tongue, I found an opportunity and simply said, "You gotta have faith."

They nodded, probably NOT realizing we were on opposite sides of the aisle!

Then today, in my daily devotions, I read this:

"What will the new year bring? Do I stick with fear or move forward with hope?  My faith tells me to move forward with hope. To trust in the living Word of God-and let Him be a light unto my path."

-J. Brent Bill, Walking In Grace (formerly Daily Guidepost)

Exactly.

No matter what side of the political aisle you're on, you need to trust God.

Four years ago, yes, I cringed as someone I did not want in the White House was voted in and began a four year-trek into the worst example of Elder Abuse in action.  Yes, I do NOT believe he was actually in charge, but those around him were propping him up when the man should have been made to retire gracefully.  He became a joke for pundits everywhere....and it was sad to see.

But instead of getting angry.....or retreating into a 'snowflake safe space' (I'm being VERY sarcastic here), I simply went on with my life as before, watching the news in horror as the crime rate soared; state governors retaliated like children at times; and biological MEN taking over women's sports.  

Let me digress a moment.  I remember seeing a story about a transgender WOMAN competing on the men's swim team several years ago. Yes, s/he didn't break any records, so there was no bruha over it.  In fact, one of my favorite stories growing up was abuot a girl who was so good, the coach put her on the MEN'S tennis team!  And I was one of the early women percussionists in my HS band.

Okay; not sure where I was going with that.....

The point is, you can't simply hide your head in the sand and wait four more years like a toddler who no longer wants to play. Life must go on, and you have a CHOICE. You can choose to live your life in FEAR or continue on in FAITH.

God has a plan; you just aren't seeing it.

Life In Lumber: Y6; W44

CI Monday -sick

Day 172: NYE Cold, lower 40s (3-6pm); 54 transactions

Felt better, but now D's got it. Went in anyway (think I get Holiday pay today?) and took over for Kem. Was fairly steady for an hour; rang up customers, did the prelim duties, then had some time to do my AP4Me and LU. Pulled trash at 5; Kait sent me to break. Took a pit stop, then found what I thought were the right trash bags for the large trash can under the med cabinet, but no.  Washed out the coffee pot, then returned. Swept the high traffic areas (in front of Pro and in front of the door), then locked the doors at 5:55.  Turned around and my final customer was at the register.  Rang him up just as Loader Con opened the large door to bring in the forklift....and proceeded to help LG Kait refill one of the lumber bins.  As my customer was about to pay, a guy walked in and I had to tell him we were closed. Customer pays and leaves....then two more vehicles pulled up and asked if we were open or closed, and if we were open the next day (yes, 9-6). Con and Kait were still in the aisle, so I went ahead and closed the door.  About 2 mins later, Con's beeping the horn, so I reopened it and let him out to do the concrete. HC Austin arrived to clean me out; I hopped over to the drywall aisle to return some tape, then waited while Con brought the hopper around. Tossed him my trash, then closed the door and returned items to Tools, Electrical, Hardware, and Toys (someone had apparently not wanted a tiny car??). Clocked out at 6:30.

Went to BW3 to claim my free birthday wings, but a) my app refused to let me place an order and b) they were freakishly busy, so I said "F-it" and went to Walmart and got Bagal Bites, some Italian bread, some sliced Mozzarella, and a jar of Ranch dressing.  Came home and watched Grimm until 11:55, then found the NYE Times Square and counted down the seconds. Toasted with the hot Winter Spice White wine from Carousel Winery, then responded to texts; called Mom; then watched the rest of that Grtimm episode (we're re-watching SE 1). D went to bed; I flipped it over to Family Ties and watched 2 episodes, then went to bed at 1am.

Outfit: Gold sparkly shirt, black l/s tee, black jeggings, dangly rhinestones, Happy NY headband.

Outfit for couch: Black PU sweatshirt, fair aisle jeggings, fair aisle slippers, HNY headband (only for 10 mins)

Happy New Year!  Goodbye 2024, Welcome 2025!!!

Day 173: Cold, upper 30s; 114 transactions

Arrived; Holly asked if I was feeling better and laughed when I replied, 'Hell yes!"  Took over for Kem, who informed me of the full moon and to 'watch out for crazies'.  Was fairly steady for 1st 2 hours, plus did the prelim duties and LU. HC Austin sent me to break at 5:30. Came back with small trash bags, then things slowed down. Swept, then ran out of $$ after a 'rush' at 7. Hopped over to #2, and didn't have another cash transaction until 8:45. Pulled trash; HC Austin cleaned me out while Loader Con was bringing in the concrete. Returned items to Electrical and Paint. Clocked out at 9:30.

Did have a guy ask us where to drop the shipping container; called ASM Alex, who had NO knowledge of it, but came down; think it was to go to Receiving (I was busy by that time).  My final customer left at close with 2 carts full of lumber.

Outfit: Gray hooded sweatshirt, black l/s tee, new dark jeggings, fair aisle leggings, sapphire hoops 

Day 174: Cold, low 30s

Arrived and took over for Kem; was busy until 5:30, when HC Austin sent me to break. Returned an item to Tools, then cleaned out the coffee pot. Afterwards, rang up a few customers, then did the prelim duties, my LU, and my annual LSR, which took an hour between it and the customers. Swept a little; pulled trash, and locked the doors at 9. Final customer left at close.  Took the trash to the hopper after LG Kait cleaned me out, then returned items to Lights and Hardware. Clocked out at 9:30.

Outfit:  Blue Cozy Sweatshirt, white turtle, new dark jeggings, fair aisle leggings, thin gold hoops

Off tomorrow!

Day 176:  Rare Sun